12 years ago, while wandering around Outside Lands, looking for something to enjoy, I was drawn in by a captivating Brit that I’d never heard of before that moment. Her name was Ellie Goulding, and I was mesmerized by her entire set. I’ve been wanting to recapture that joy, but also have been worried that it wouldn’t quite be the same. However, when it was announced that she would be doing a short stretch of shows backed by symphony orchestras, I decided that I needed to make this one happen.
These pop artist/symphony mash-ups can create an odd mix. Symphony subscribers will often mix with regular fans, and it can create an odd mix of cocktail attire and t-shirts, with a very wide age range in the crowd and with many folks really unsure of what to expect. I overheard more than one person in the room say that didn’t know who Ellie Goulding was. And when she walked out on stage, she seemed a little, well, nervous. I think she knew she wasn’t necessarily walking out into a room of superfans.
Goulding stood perfectly still, letting her voice do all the heavy lifting, throughout the first three songs of the set: “Burn,” “The Writer,” and “New Heights,” until she confessed to “not feeling comfortable in heels” and tossed her shoes off. Prompting conductor Derrick Skye to do the same, but not without Goulding mocking him for needing to kick off flats. This was the real start to the show.
Free of shoes, Goulding really was allowed to let loose. Well, as loose as she could, wearing a lovely dress that didn’t allow for much freedom of movement. You could tell she was a little frustrated by it. She’s an arena-level performer, and it can be hard to let that go in such a proper and pristine setting. Then again, it did allow Goulding to show off her pipes, sounding like the perfect synthesis of Kate Bush and Mariah Carey.
Let’s dig into the arrangements- hearing strings attempt to recreate synths and drum machine sounds is utterly thrilling. It may have been the best-sounding show I’ve ever been to. A lot of the heavy lifting, however, came from the harpist Katherine Siochi. There was a moment towards the end of “Explosions” where Goulding found herself driven to “air-harp”; it was so infectious. Later in the set, Siochi blew the roof off the lead riff of “Lights,” turning the song into the disco anthem Steve Reich wishes he could’ve composed.
Ellie Goulding’s one-night-only affair with the SF Symphony was a work of sonic art. I will be sitting with the afterglow of this show for a long time, as it’s the treat my ears desperately needed ahead of the holiday sensory assault. Also, now I’m actually considering seeing Sting do the same thing in February.
